Homework

You may have heard that Dame Julie Andrews is scheduled to direct the 60th anniversary production of My Fair Lady this summer at the Sydney Opera House in Australia. You can watch an interview about it here:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-11-10/julie-andrews-offers-advice-to-aspiring-actors/6929054

In the interview she gave some good advice to artists:

"The underpinning of discipline is the foundation that leaves me free to then fly. If I know that I've done my homework, which is what I suggest to all young talent these days, then I've got something there that I can spring from. But if you haven't learned it well, paid your dues or put in the hours, you don't have as much to pull from.”

The end of the semester is really when we find out if we’ve been doing our “homework.” In other words, has the process you’ve been following this semester prepared you and helped you grow?

As indicated in your class syllabus, I firmly believe that your final grade in Studio Voice should be a reflection of the work you have been doing all year. If you have been disciplined and on task, the jury performance is almost always solid. If, however, you have an outstanding jury performance but you were not disciplined in meeting your other responsibilities throughout the semester then you will not receive a high grade just because you "aced your final.”

I adhere to this policy to emphasize exactly what Dame Andrews indicates: if you have done your homework, you have more to pull from as an artist. There may be shortcuts to throwing together a performance, but creating something artistic and powerful takes time, discipline, and practice.

When the semester is finally over and you have moved on to your happy holidays, I hope you all take some time to go back and honestly reflect on the last five months. Though this is not an exercise that will be graded, it may be the most important assignment of the year.

Work hard in your last week of class. I’m looking forward to your juries!

Now go practice.

Systematic practice

The November issue of Classical Singer magazine (I have extra copies in my office if you would like one) has an article by Laura Portune called “Practicing Efficiently.” In the article she suggests an order for how to practice a song, once all of the notes and rhythms are learned:

1. Warm up your body.
2. Warm up your voice.
3. Speak through the text in rhythm.
4. Sing through the piece on lip trills, humming, alternating vowels. Focus on easy production through phrasing and breathing.
5. Sing through the piece with words, focusing on technique.
6. Sing through the piece with words, focusing on expression/acting.
7. Sing through the piece putting together technique and expression/acting.
8. End with “performance.”
9. Warm down.

A lot has been written about “The Myth of Multitasking” and how trying to do too many things at once actually wastes more time than it saves. This can be true in our singing as well, which is what I like about the process above. By intentionally focusing on a single element of performance we can fine tune that aspect before moving on. 

Of course, we tend to want to jump right to the expressive elements of singing. After all, that’s why we sing in the first place. But if we haven’t solidified technical elements, or haven’t learned the song properly, then we may be distracted when performing because we haven’t ironed out those deficiencies yet. 

Following a systematic approach can ensure that we aren’t skipping steps in the process and getting ahead of ourselves. It takes time and can be tedious. But the learning that occurs is ingrained more thoroughly, which always saves time down the road.

Think about your own process for practicing and learning a song. How is it the same as the process above? How is it different? Which element(s) on the list above would improve your practicing? 

Now go practice. 

Silent Practicing

At the beginning of the semester we talked through the syllabus and discussed dividing your practice time into three sessions. I highlighted the fact that much of your session 3 practice can be done silently.

Many of you have been finding that out over the last couple of weeks since it seems about half of you have been fighting colds or some other illness. Having no voice because you are sick, of course, does not excuse you from practicing. It just means you have to practice differently.

This article includes a list of things you can do for practice that don’t require vocal use. Since it’s written for choral singers, not everything on the list applies to you, but most of it does:

http://doreenfryling.org/2015/09/15/practicing-choral-music-ten-ideas-for-the-singer-who-doesnt-think-they-can-practice-on-their-own/

#2 on the list suggests listening to a recording. Hopefully when I assign you songs you don’t just run to a professional recording or youtube in order to learn the piece. If you have you probably found out just how different some renditions can be from the notes and rhythms printed on the page. But at this point in the semester, now that (most of) you know (most of) your music well, this is a good time to listen to some recordings to compare interpretive ideas. You may hear some things you like that could work in your voice or you may decide you like your own choices best. Either way, it’s good to see what other singers have done with the same song.

I find #8 particularly helpful. I get some of my best text work and memorization done when I’m on my morning run or sitting on the train heading to campus. I just let my mind go through the songs and the repetition helps solidify the parts I know and clues me in on the sections that still need more work.

Experiment with the list this week. Which exercises do you find helpful? Which are difficult for you to do?

Now go practice.